i am Cubase LE user over 5 years - start with LE5,now use LE 9.5 - i like it,i know it,do perfectly what i need it to do,it's stable,reliable so on BUT...
Right now i seriously hesitate do i really need,not want,i know i want it but...
is it worth to spend money for upgrade and to wait for adding some options Bandlab already have
instead of investing time in exploring what Bandlab Cakewalk is capable of,
also there is so many musicians using it you can connect there,
seriously hesitate about my future Cubase club card.
Till the end of this month i will become or Bandlab user or Cubase Artist one during the August 40% OFF.
Please share opinion.

Only you can decide based on personal preference, personally didn't grow fond of Cakewalk and heard some experiences that discouraged me from even trying anymore, sure, free is amazing offer and whole DAW seems packed nicely, really wanted to like it, on other hand on the merge to pull the plug on Cubase Artist after using Logic for quite some time, have the demo of 9.5 and it finally feels like step up, can't find almost anything to favor Logic, Cubase really now feels like ultimate all round solution and I spent last year or so demoing everything I can.

Another DAW that I really dig is Bitwig, but it's so young and I really can't trust developers to bring it where I want it, right now it consumes 50% more resources (both CPU&RAM) than Cubase on same project and behaves like mess when is close overloading, ridiculous, Cubase is solid, saw some test, on lower buffers even outperforms famous Reaper, which I dislike.

Ultimately you must decide what is most important for you, no matter what concrete arguments I can bring in favor of Cubase or any other DAW, we have different needs, preferences and workflows.

This entire forum is wading through predictions, opinions, barely formed thoughts, drama, and whining. If you don't enjoy that, why are you here? ShawnG

Features on paper means nothing, how well they are implemented and how one responds to whole DAW workflow is the key thing here, so yeah, give it a go, you don't need much to find out if something suits you or not.

This entire forum is wading through predictions, opinions, barely formed thoughts, drama, and whining. If you don't enjoy that, why are you here? ShawnG

As a longtime user of both Cubase and Sonar........stick with Cubase. Especially if you like it and it does what you want it to do. Why try to fix or alter a way of working that doesn't appear to be broken?

I was not a huge fan of Sonar. I felt it was miles behind other DAWs, ESPECIALLY when it came to it's midi implementation. Sonar's midi tools were extremely archaic and often didn't work correctly in my personal experience. (e.i. CAL scripts. OMG man....) I know folks swore by Sonar....but Cakewalk didn't do well for a reason..... I'm not sure if fixing some of Sonar's shortcomings are on Bandlab's radar, but time will tell. They need to redesign, rebuild and recode the whole thing.

Thanks for your opinion and time guys,i will definitely work extensively with both this month to compare all aspects - workflow,sound,tools so on ...it's amazing that fully functional advanced DAW is free.
I am guitarist and think that Bandlab cakewalk is very friendly for players,don't know now have to work more with it to say more,it's like when you have to decide to break up with you old girlfriend you've been over 5 years and used to be with her but then you meet new exciting girl and hesitate what to do hihihi same feelings now
Probably have to check how new girl will satisfy my needs hahahahha.
Cheerz

VELLTONE MUSIC wrote:.... LE 9.5 - i like it,i know it,do perfectly what i need it to do,it's stable,reliable so on .....

You've got several options that people have mentioned.
But since you've been using Cubase for 5 years and are happy with it, I think you should stick with it.

I checked the up grade price, and it's $119.99 to go from Elements to Artist, and that includes a dongle.
You'd have to decide if the extra features are worth it to you.
You've probably looked at the comparison chart: https://www.steinberg.net/en/products/c ... rison.html

You don't have to upgrade of course.
Elements is a fine program and since you like it,
you might also want to just keep using it until an Elements version 10 comes out.
But the 40% off upgrade price is a good deal and kind of hard to pass up.

I bought Cakewalk a lot of years ago and didn't care for it compared to Cubase.
For me, it was a waste of money. But for you, it might only be a waste of time

Or....you might end up liking it. I guess it won't cost you anything to try it.

This somehow reminds me off my excitement, when i rode with a bike to the local newspaper shop, to buy the Beat magazine including Cubase LE5. Not sure which DAW i used at that point, but, i never really got warm with the stuff i used to before, and, Cubase LE made so much more sense in the way it operated. Still kept Cubase Artist 9, and, from time to time, i think about switching back from Studio One. There something about its GUI which is so pleasant, even though i dislike other stuff again, like, working with windows, or the MIDI learn system. Well, nothing is perfect, i guess.